title: Taxonomic study of the genera Halogeometricum and Halosarcina: transfer of Halosarcina limi and Halosarcina pallida to the genus Halogeometricum as Halogeometricum limi comb. nov. and Halogeometricum pallidum comb. nov., respectively.
abstract: Members of the haloarchaeal genera Halosarcina and Halogeometricum (family Halobacteriaceae) are closely related to each other and show 96.6-98 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. This is higher than the accepted threshold value (95 %) to separate two genera, and a taxonomic study using a polyphasic approach of all four members of the two genera was conducted to clarify their relationships. Polar lipid profiles indicated that Halogeometricum rufum RO1-4(T), Halosarcina pallida BZ256(T) and Halosarcina limi RO1-6(T) are related more to each other than to Halogeometricum borinquense CGMCC 1.6168(T). Phylogenetic analyses using the sequences of three different genes (16S rRNA gene, rpoB' and EF-2) strongly supported the monophyly of these four species, showing that they formed a distinct clade, separate from the related genera Halopelagius, Halobellus, Haloquadratum, Haloferax and Halogranum. The results indicate that the four species should be assigned to the same genus, and it is proposed that Halosarcina pallida and Halosarcina limi be transferred to the genus Halogeometricum as Halogeometricum pallidum comb. nov. (type strain, BZ256(T) = KCTC 4017(T) = JCM 14848(T)) and Halogeometricum limi comb. nov. (type strain, RO1-6(T) = CGMCC 1.8711(T) = JCM 16054(T)).
authors.affiliation: School of Food & Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xing-Xing
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.affiliation: School of Food & Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mei-Lin
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Food & Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Food & Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wen-Jiao
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Boorooma Street, Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2678 Australia.
authors.forename: Mike L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dyall-Smith
authors.affiliation: School of Food & Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Heng-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Cui
mesh_terms: D019641:DNA, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics; D019766:Genes, Archaeal; D006216:Halobacteriaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020652:Peptide Elongation Factor 2 / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D019641:DNA, Archaeal; D008055:Lipids; D020652:Peptide Elongation Factor 2; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S